Shopify

Shopify
Developer(s) Shopify
Written in Ruby
Operating system Cross-platform
Type Commerce
License Software as a service
Website www.shopify.com
Shopify office in Toronto

Shopify is a Canadian e-commerce company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario that develops computer software for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems.[1]

Shopify was founded in 2004, and was initially based on earlier software written by its founders for their online snowboard store.[2][3] The company reports that it has 200,000 merchants using its platform,[4] with total gross merchandise volume exceeding $10 billion.[5][6][7]

History

Shopify was founded in 2004 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake after attempting to open Snowdevil, an online store for snowboarding equipment. Unsatisfied with the existing e-commerce products on the market, Lütke, a computer programmer by trade, decided to build his own.[3][8][9]

Lütke used the open source web application framework Ruby on Rails to build Snowdevil's online store, and launched it after two months of development.[10][11] The Snowdevil founders launched the platform as Shopify in June 2006.[10]

In June 2009, Shopify launched an API platform and App Store. The API allows developers to create applications for Shopify online stores and then sell them on the Shopify App Store.[6] Several companies have developed apps that integrate with the Shopify platform.[12][13]

In April 2010 Shopify launched a free mobile app on the Apple App Store in May 2010. The app lets Shopify store owners view and manage their stores from iOS mobile devices.[14] In 2010, Shopify started its Build-A-Business competition, in which participants create a business using its commerce platform.[15][16] The winners of the competition receive cash prizes and mentorship from entrepreneurs, such as Richard Branson, Eric Ries and others.[16] Shopify was also named Ottawa’s Fastest Growing Company by the Ottawa Business Journal in 2010.[10] The company received $7 million from an initial Series A funding round in December 2010.[17][18] Its Series B funding round generated $15 million in October 2011.[19]

In February 2012 Shopify acquired Select Start Studios Inc ("S3"), a mobile software developer, along with 20 of the company's mobile engineers and designers.[20][21] In August 2013, Shopify acquired Jet Cooper, a 25-person design studio based in Toronto.[22]

In August 2013, Shopify announced the launch of Shopify Payments, which allowed merchants to accept credit cards without requiring a third party payment gateway.[23] The company also announced the launch of an iPad-centric POS system. It uses an iPad to accept payments from credit cards. The company received $100 million in Series C funding in December 2013.[24]

By 2014, the platform hosted approximately 120,000 online retailers,[11][14][25] and was listed as #3 in Deloitte’s Fast50 in Canada, as well as #7 in Deloitte’s Fast 500 of North America.[26] Shopify earned $105 million in revenue in 2014, twice as much as it raised the previous year.[27]

On April 14, 2015, Shopify filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols "SHOP" and "SH" respectively.[28][29] Shopify went public on May 21, 2015, and in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, Shopify started trading at $28, more than 60% higher than its USD$17 offering price, with its IPO raising more than $131 million.[30][31]

In September 2015, Amazon.com announced it would be closing its Amazon Webstore service for merchants, and had selected Shopify as the preferred migration provider;[32] Shopify's shares jumped more than 20% upon the news.

Reception

Since its launch, Shopify has been well received by popular tech websites such as CNET, who say the platform is “clean, simple, and easy-to-use.”[33] The service was profiled in publications including The Wall Street Journal,[34] The New York Times,[2] The Vancouver Sun,[35] The Financial Post, TechCrunch,[36] and Mashable.[11][37]

Shopify was featured on Fast Company's list of Most Innovative Companies of 2012.[38] In 2013, Shopify was featured on CNBC's Disrupter 50 list.[39] The company's CEO, Tobias Lütke, won The Globe and Mail's CEO of the Year in 2014.[40]

References

  1. ↑ Bradbury, Danny. Hands-off business a reality The Financial Post. April 21, 2008.
  2. 1 2 Kolodny, Lora. Shopify, a start-Up, Starts Its Own Business Competition “New York Times”. February 2, 2010.
  3. 1 2 Cole, Trevor (27 November 2014). "Our Canadian CEO of the year you've probably never heard of". Globe & Mail. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "Shopify Announces Third-Quarter 2015 Financial Results". Shopify. November 4, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Shopify stock jumps 14% after it boosts revenue in Q2". CBC News. July 30, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Duncan, Katherine (12 March 2012). "How Shopify Became the Go-To Ecommerce Platform for Startups". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  7. ↑ Armental, Maria (April 14, 2015). "Canadian Software Company Shopify Files for U.S.-Canada IPO". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  8. ↑ Whittaker, Stephanie. The Web as a safety net The Montreal Gazette. May 4, 2009.
  9. ↑ Donnelly, Jim. Shopify picks up $7M in venture funding Ottawa Business Journal. December 13, 2010.
  10. 1 2 3 Donnelly, Jim. Fastest Growing Companies Ottawa Business Journal. May 3rd, 2010.
  11. 1 2 3 Duryee, Tricia. E-Commerce Assistant Shopify Raises $7 Million in First Round All Things Digital. December 13, 2010.
  12. ↑ "channeladvisor-expands-webstores-solution-with-shopify". Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  13. ↑ Novellino, Teresa (15 December 2014). "Wanelo deal with Shopify gives indie retailers a wing in digital mall". Upstart Business Journal. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  14. 1 2 Rip Empson (2013-04-11). "After 7 Years & 50K Storefronts Created, Shopify Launches Major Redesign To Simplify Online Store-Building". TechCrunch.
  15. ↑ Kolodny, Lora. Maker of iPad Cases Wins Shopify Competition The New York Times. July 19, 2010.
  16. 1 2 Rip Empson for TechCrunch. 10 July 2012 Shopify Teams Up With Tim Ferriss, Eric Ries, FUBU Founder To Help You Build A $1M eCommerce Biz
  17. ↑ Lewis, Rob. Ottawa's Shopify raises $7 Million Series A Funding from Bessemer, FirstMark, and Felicis Techvibes. December 13, 2010.
  18. ↑ McLeod, Mark. Shopify Gets Fundified! StartupCFO. December 12, 2010.
  19. ↑ Duryee, Tricia. "Shopify Picks Up $15 Million as It Faces New Competition From eBay". All Things D. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  20. ↑ Rao, Leena (1 February 2012). "Ecommerce Platform Shopify Acquires Mobile App Development Studio Select Start". TechCrunch. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  21. ↑ Berkow, Jameson (1 February 2012). "Ottawa tech merger: Shopify buys Select Start Studios". Financial Post. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  22. ↑ Lindzon, Jared (1 August 2013). "Shopify acquires design agency Jet Cooper". BetaKit. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  23. ↑ Shopify debuts fully integrated credit card payment processing TechCrunch, 12 August 2013
  24. ↑ Etherington, Darrell. "Shopify Raises $100M To Drop The ‘E’ And Become The Commerce Company That Spans On- And Offline". Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  25. ↑ Pileci, Vito. Shopify.com makes it easy for new online entrepreneurs The Montreal Gazette. September 20, 2010.
  26. ↑ Louis Columbus (November 20, 2014). "Software Companies Are Dominating Deloitte's Technology Fast 500". Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  27. ↑ Reader, Ruth (May 21, 2015). "Shopify pops 65% on the NYSE, starts trading above $28 per share". VentureBeat. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  28. ↑ "E-Commerce Software Maker Shopify Files for IPO". 14 April 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  29. ↑ Kokalitcheva, Kia (April 14, 2015). "E-commerce company Shopify files for initial public offering". Fortune. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  30. ↑ Tech IPO Scorecard: Shopify Skyrockets 51%, While Baozun Rises A Slimmer 4.6%
  31. ↑ Abelson, Jeremy; Narasin, Ben (May 21, 2015). "IPO Scorecard: Shopify is another point against bubble proponents". VentureBeat. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  32. ↑ "Shares in Shopify Jump 23% Following Integration with Amazon".
  33. ↑ Needleman, Rafe. Shopify makes quick work of setting up shop “CNET”. May 26, 2006.
  34. ↑ Lora Kolodny for the Wall Street Journal. 12 Dec 2013. On Road to IPO, Shopify Raises $100M to ‘Bridge Clicks and Bricks’
  35. ↑ Pilieci, Vito. Business booming at Shopify.com “The Vancouver Sun”. September 18, 2010.
  36. ↑ Arrington, Michael. Shopify Was Worth the Wait “TechCrunch”. April 15, 2006.
  37. ↑ Casel, Brian.40+ Web Design and Development Resources for Beginners “Mashable”. July 23, 2010.
  38. ↑ "Most Innovative Companies 2012 - Industries Top 10 - Retail". Fast Company. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  39. ↑ "CNBC Disruptor 50". CNBC. 13 May 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  40. ↑ Knowlton Thomas (November 27, 2014). "Shopify's Tobias Lütke Crowned CEO of 2014". TechVibes. Retrieved February 9, 2015.

External links

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